The Amazing Impact of Mastering English Fluency in your Life | Go Natural English

349,414 views ・ 2015-10-16

Go Natural English


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Hello! How are you doing? I'm so excited to talk to you about why you
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should become fluent in English. Maybe you've thought about why you want to
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become fluent in English language. Maybe you haven't thought much about it.
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Maybe you've just been studying, because it's something you are required to do or you think
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you should do, but maybe you haven't thought much about it.
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Well, if you have or haven't, either way, this episode of Go Natural English is going
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to present some ideas that are probably new, you probably haven't thought about.
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And so, I'm going to share with you my reasons why I think English fluency is the best thing
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that you can do for yourself. So, I've made a lot of notes, so I'll be looking
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over at them while I talk to you. So, a lot of people talk about why you should
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become fluent, and I think there are some basic reasons that you probably already know.
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I'm going to say these, and you're going to think, "Duh. Yeah, I know that."
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So, for example, freedom of communication. English is the language of the Internet, the
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language of science, medicine, technology, travel.
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You can find out a lot of information in English. As opposed to, perhaps, if your native language
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is not as widely used as English. So also, English can give you a lot of opportunities
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to travel abroad, to study abroad. When you travel, you might want to use English
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to communicate with people who speak other languages.
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Maybe English is their native language, maybe it's not.
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Did you know that there's more people in the world that speak English as a second language
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(or third, or fourth, or fifth) than people who speak it as their native language.
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I just think it's a fascinating fact. So, English is really the language that we
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use to connect with each other internationally. So, if you want to travel the world and work
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abroad, or study abroad, or meet people from different countries, English is the best way
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to be able to do that. I was lucky that I was born into an English-speaking
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family in an English-speaking country, so I have English, but I've worked really hard
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to become fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, I can speak some French and Japanese, so I know
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what it's like to learn another language. Also, English, of course, is really helpful
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for your career. Most careers will benefit from speaking English.
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If you work with international colleagues, if you have to travel for work, if you have
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to do research for work, if you're selling things to people in different countries or
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doing marketing (I mean I could go on and on, and on), if you work in tourism of any
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kind, if you work in a hotel, restaurant, giving tours or anything like that, really,
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your career is going to benefit from English. Think about if you want to go to a conference
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overseas, you're going to benefit from knowing English.
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So, all of these things so far, you're probably thinking, "Okay, Gabby. I've already thought
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of that. Really, what's new?" Well, I'm going to share my not-so-obvious
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reasons for becoming fluent in English. And before I do that, I want to talk to you
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about levels of fluency in English. Because I think that fluency in English means
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that you can do what you want to do in English. So, if you want to order coffee, for example
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(I just got a coffee myself, so that was the first thing I thought of).
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I ordered my coffee in English, because I'm here in Bangkok actually, and I don't speak
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enough Thai to order my coffee in Thai. But I did learn how to say "Hello" and "Thank
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you". But anyway, I said, "Could I please have a
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coffee?" So, "Could I please have a coffee?"
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Was that five, six words? Well, for that moment, I was fluent in English.
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I did exactly what I wanted to do. But I wouldn't say that I was speaking advanced
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English. I wouldn't say that I mastered English with
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six words. So, I want to encourage you to master English
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fluency, because mastery leads to true freedom. Mastery leads to true freedom.
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When you master the English language and you're able to communicate more complex ideas and
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express yourself and your opinions in most or any situation, that will give you freedom.
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Low fluency, for example, only knowing six words necessary to order a coffee, will mean
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that you miss out on a lot in life. If you're around other English speakers, and
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they're having a conversation, you're going to miss out on what they're talking about,
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you're going to miss out on the meanings. It happened to me.
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Ten years ago, I was traveling in Brazil for the first time, and I knew a lot of Spanish,
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I was pretty fluent in Spanish, but my Portuguese was very, very basic.
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And I pretended that I understood a lot of conversation, but honestly, I didn't.
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I barely understood what people were talking about.
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So, I knew that I was missing out, and actually, that motivated me to become more fluent in
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Portuguese. So, if you feel like you're missing out on
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a lot of the English happening around, maybe on conversations, maybe on TV or in movies,
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or on the news, that should motivate you to keep going and to master English fluency.
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Don't let it stop you, but use it as a fire to keep learning.
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So, when you have low fluency level in English, you're going to misunderstand, you're night
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think people are talking about one topic, but they're actually talking about another,
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or you might think their opinion is one thing, but it's actually something completely different,
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so you might miss the point. Now, this is really dangerous in work situations
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and social situations too. For example, if someone's giving you orders
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that you need to complete or asking you for a favor, asking you to do something, or if
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they're sharing their opinion with you, well, you want to understand their point of view.
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And if you misunderstand or you pretend to understand, like I did, you can really get
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yourself in trouble. So, you want to work on your fluency so that
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doesn't happen. Some people won't be patient with you when
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you have low fluency level, especially if they speak your native language, they'll probably
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just try to switch to your native language instead of waiting for slow English.
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This might sound harsh. I'm a very patient person, I think, but even
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I would get a little bit impatient if I have to wait a long time or if I have to ask several
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times, "I'm sorry, I didn't understand." So, I just wanted you to know that with low
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fluency, you're going to lose friends. I'm sorry it sounds a little bit harsh, but
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you're going to lose opportunities to talk to people who may not have the patience.
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Now, maybe you don't want to talk to those people anyway, because maybe they're mean
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or they don't have enough patience, and you want someone who's nice with a lot of patience.
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But even nice people, very patient people, may feel like it's difficult to talk with
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you if you have a low fluency level, because it takes more time and effort to understand
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and to hold a conversation with you. So, really work on your fluency so that your
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friends or your future friends will be able to speak with you with confidence and with
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good energy going back and forth at a good pace.
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Now it's okay if you start out slow, we all start out slow in a second language, but this
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should be motivation to keep building your English skills and to speak at not a fast
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pace necessarily, but a normal pace, not so slow that people lose patience.
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I'm just being honest. I don't want to be mean, but it's the truth.
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I don't want to lie to you, I want to be completely honest and motivate you to get really fluent
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in English. Also, if your English is low, if it's a low
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fluency level, you have a low level of English, you might feel bad about it.
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It might lead to a lack of confidence, and you might feel like you have a lack of options
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and less independence than if you have a mastery of English language.
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So, here at Go Natural English, I primarily help intermediate English learners reach advanced
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fluency. And that's why I think you should really work
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on advanced fluency, because I see the difference that it makes for my learners in Go Natural
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English premium courses. So, really work on our advanced fluency, because
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if you're having a low level of fluency, you're going to be depending on other people to give
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you information, depending on other people to be patient with you, depending on other
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people to break down their message or information so that there's no misunderstandings.
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So, when you have a high level of English fluency, it's going to give you more freedom
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and more independence, meaning you don't have to wait for other people or hope that other
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people will help you. So, if you want to be an independent person
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and if you want to help other people, maybe you have friends who are learning English
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and their fluency level isn't as high as yours, well then, your mastery will help other people.
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And isn't that what we want to do? We want to help each other.
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Now, knowledge comes from English. It comes from being able to research in English,
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talk to people in English, connect with new people, network, find out information.
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English is an excellent tool to do that. So, of course, you need many things.
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You need people to talk to you, you need Internet, you need materials, like books, documentaries,
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but English is a really big tool to be able to grow your knowledge and educate yourself.
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And knowledge equals power. When you have information, you have the power
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to make informed decisions. And that will change your life.
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So, English is life changing. Having a high level of fluent English will
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give you knowledge, power, freedom, independence. In my book, these are all good things, these
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are things that I highly value. Now, when you speak English fluently, you'll
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be able to speak with anyone else who speaks English confidently.
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Now, I know how hard it is in a social situation to speak a second language.
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But when you have that fluency level, then you don't have to worry about "Oh, is my English
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going off or not?" You just go out there and start talking to
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people. Also, it allows you to be more independent
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and more helpful to other people who may or may not speak English as well as you.
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So, think of English as a tool for independence, freedom, knowledge and power.
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English is a tool for unlimited growth. I've mentioned a few different ways that you
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can use English to grow and develop your life, develop personally, professionally.
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English is not just a tool for your career or your social life (I mean, those are huge
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things), but English itself is actually a work-out for your brain.
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I don't know if you know, but there's several articles.
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I've just read one (I think it was in the New York Times) that talked about how knowing
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a second language, learning a second language actually keeps your brain strong.
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And so, as you age, you are more likely to keep your brain healthy if you know a second
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language. And, of course, I think you know ...
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One of my worst nightmares would be not to have my brain powers, because that really
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drowns your life. You want to have your brain power.
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So, English is a great work-out for your brain. I believe in working out your body and your
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brain. So, as you learn English, it stimulates your
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brain. So just that on its own if you never speak
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English, just learning English, playing with it, practicing it, will help your brain.
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But of course, I want you to speak to, because speaking English will develop your confidence.
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Being able to express yourself and have other people understand and like what you're saying,
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agree with what you're saying will maybe challenge you and offer some food for thought.
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This is ... I think that can develop your confidence,
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being able to interact with people, communicate, connect.
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You can learn from a lot of resources that are only available in English.
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I remember one of my students who speaks Arabic told me that when he was looking for information
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on-line, for example, in Wikipedia or other sites, the Arabic information was very small.
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But the information in English was very big. So, if you want information, learn English.
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Not saying it's fair, not saying it's right, but it's the truth.
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Now, you can connect with your kind of people anywhere in the world.
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So, not only you can use English as a tool to get information, but you can also use English
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as a tool to connect with the right people, people who have similar values as you, people
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who do the same job or have the same profession as you.
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Maybe if you want to learn about a new career, you can reach out to those people.
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You can find people who enjoy the same hobbies as you.
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I've met a lot of people on-line who enjoy travel like I do, and we communicate in English.
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So, I think community is one of the most important parts of life.
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Nurturing a community of people that you respect, admire and love makes your life wonderful
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and beautiful no matter where you are in the world.
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But you need tools to do that, you need to communicate to do that.
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And English can help you to find your kind of people.
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Especially if you're from a small town or a small city where you feel like you don't
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belong, if you feel a little out of place, use English as a tool to find people like
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you who understand you. And trust me, it's a good feeling to be understood.
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Not only in English, but your personality, your values, everything.
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So, one last thing about English that I love is that my learners have told me time and
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time again, "Gabby, when I speak English, I feel like a new person.
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I can create the personality that I want. It's like I'm reinventing myself. I can become
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a new person. I can turn over a new leaf. I can start from
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scratch, a blank slate. And when I speak English, I'm speaking to
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new people, I'm using new words, new phrases, different body language."
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And so, you can choose how to express yourself in English and what kind of person you want
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to be in English. So, if you've ever felt like you want to start
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over or you want to change something in your life, English is a great opportunity to do
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that. And English, just like it's a tool to find
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out more information about the world around us, around you, it's also an excellent tool
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to share your voice with the world. I believe that you are unique and awesome,
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and you have an important story to share with the world.
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And I want you to use English to do that. I don't want you to keep your story inside
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just for people who speak your language. I mean, please, use your language to share
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your story too. Don't get me wrong, that's great.
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But English is a great tool, i's a very useful tool to get your opinion, your voice, your
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story out into the world. So please, use is as a tool for that, for
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your freedom, your independence, for your knowledge, for your power, to connect with
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your community, to be confident and to share your voice with the world.
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So, those are some reasons why I think that you should learn English to a very high fluent
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level. Not just basic English, not just intermediate
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English, but advanced English. If you agree, than please, like, comment,
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share. If you disagree, let me know what you think.
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Subscribe to Go Natural English on YouTube and the podcast to learn more about English
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language learning. Thanks so much for joining me.
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I'm really honored to be able to speak with you.
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And I'm looking forward to talking to you again soon.
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And ... Oh, one last thing I almost forgot.
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You can come to GoNaturalEnglish.com/7steps to learn the Go Natural English method for
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English fluency which is very important for this episode.
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And it's a free course of seven videos that share seven steps to fluency with me at Go
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Natural English. Alright, I'll see you there
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Bye for now.
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